Contenu du sommaire : International

The phrase ‘business ethics' frequently evokes an incompatibility between business and ethics. Such an incompatibility reflects a negative skeptical attitude regarding the possibility of an ethics in business. This attitude raises in turn the following epistemological question: what was the influence of skepticism on normative theories that have been built in business ethics? In this paper, it is argued that skepticism have played a central and structuring role in normative theorization within this field. For this purpose, and using examples taken from the business ethics literature, we will try to show how business ethicists answer to this skepticism before exposing their theories and showing how they can address it. The argument will be presented in two steps. First, four species of skepticism will be considered. The first one is ideological: it is based on a radical criticism of the foundations of the market economy. The second kind of skepticism has an anti-theoretical dimension: it questions the practical relevance of ethical theory. The third, which pertains to meta-ethics, is concerned with the view that moral statements have no truth value and therefore lack any power of conviction. The fourth kind of skepticism refers to an egoistic account of moral human motivations, which reduces significantly the practical authority of morality. The second step of the argument will deal with the answers that have been proposed in the business ethics literature, especially within its normative branch, to these forms of skepticism. The metaethical and egoistic kinds will be more specifically considered. The former kind is often summarized by the phrase “separation thesis,” that is, the idea that business morality is less demanding than common morality. One answer to the separation thesis has been advanced by Freeman. It consists in changing the language with which business facts and practices are described. Another answer, proposed by Solomon, is that economic and non-economic activities are part of a single community governed by the same moral rules, and that each economic actor should consider himself as a member of this unique community. Two answers are also proposed with respect to the form of skepticism which lies in an egoistic account of moral human motivations. The first one has been emphasized in the “ethical philosophy for marketing” defended by Robin and Reidenbach. In their view, the proper function of business morality is to counterbalance the “limited sympathies” that characterize human relationships. The second answer, put forward by Sen, aims at showing that the belief that economic actors would be exclusively self-interested is not justified. This belief often relates to a famous passage of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, but Sen explains why it is misinterpreted. Our epistemological argument has two main consequences. First, it stresses the fact that skepticism about ethics in business should be taken seriously. In other words, its effects on practices and on theoretical constructions should be considered. Second, theories in business ethics should be detached from skepticism and based on criteria that define a good human life and good human relations in general.

Moral failings and managers' deviant behaviors, leading to financial scandals, are at the heart of a crisis of trust in businesses. Promoting a climate of trust in the organizational environment seems increasingly to depend on adherence to a set of rules and principles of conduct, which advocates ethical values shared by the members of the company. In this paper, the main focus is on the role of the ethical climate within the company regarded as a “catalyst” of trust at work. These shared values and ethical practices in the workplace are, in our view, a prerequisite for the development of trust in the organizational context. The pioneer works of Victor and Cullen on the ethical work climate were developed and the theoretical bases of the concept were clarified. A succinct synthesis of theoretical knowledge on trust and its typologies was also developed. An exploratory study inscribed in an interpretativist paradigm aims to identify the prevailing ethical work climates types, as they perceived by the members in the firms studied; and then, to understand the role of this climate in the development of trust relationships at work. Data was collected from Twenty-one semi-directive interviews conducted with employees in seven Tunisian companies, presenting different contexts and having diverse organizational characteristics. A thematic analysis of the qualitative data was conducted and performed using the software Nvivo 7.The results of this exploratory work confirm the multidimensional nature of the ethical climate concept. An egoistic climate expresses a situation of ethical deficiency. A caring climate is based on an informal logic of shared values for the welfare of the community. A deontological climate is, rather, part of a formal approach aiming to align the members' behaviors with predetermined ethical principles. The results support also the weight of the perceived ethical climate, in reinforcing or damaging trust relationships with employer and peers. Thus, egoistic climate raises mistrust among the members of the company. A caring climate inspires more affective trust relationship towards the top manager and peers, which promotes commitment to the organization. However, the perception of a deontological climate refers to more cognitive forms of trust among members of an organization, fostering the emergence of a kind of institutional trust, related to mutual respect for the terms of an ethical contract. These analyses allow us extracting suitable propositions. Only scattered efforts have been made to emphasize the weight of the organizational context in promoting trust at work. This research contributes then to improve knowledge on trust and ethical work climate. Laying the foundations of a positive ethics, caring or deontological, seems to be a prerequisite for the establishment of trust within organizations. However, the diversity of perceived ethical climates involves the development of adequate strategies differentiated and respecting for local contingencies in order to promote a trust climate of quality.

Historically, French public authorities have delegated the provision of social and medico-social services for vulnerable individuals to solidarity organisations. The need to reduce state deficits has led public authorities to tighten the monitoring of the organisations' finances. The managers of medico-social centres are then urged to ‘think through' the linkage between economic objectives and medico-social missions. We draw on a study conducted with assistance and service centres for disabled workers (établissements et services d'aide par le travail, ESATs) to reveal how these two objectives can be reconciled. Reintegration centres for disabled workers care for some 100,000 adults and employ 30,000 administrative staff persons and social workers. These not-for-profit organisations sell products and services on the competitive markets. Since the mid 1990s, however, they have been confronted by heightened competition due to industrial relocations, and at the same time, they have had to meet increasingly stringent quality requirements imposed on their care activities by regulations enacted in 2002 and 2005. Beyond giving work to disabled persons, ESAT should now provide support for users in the accomplishment of their customised career plan and encourage their integration into mainstream work. How do such centres manage to reconcile the economic objectives of profitability with their medical and social service missions? We refer to the strategic contingency approach (Macduffie, 1995), to reveal the several alternative strategic ‘responses' corresponding to a single external environment. Through eighteen case studies of centres located in the Rhône-Alpes Region, we develop a typology in the form of a matrix cross-tabulating economic and medico-social strategies. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with management, production and medico-social staff. In our sample, we identify three typical economic strategies (specialisation in industrial subcontracting, differentiation through value added and diversification through service activities) and three typical medical/social-service strategies (providing work, personal and professional development and integration into mainstream work). This matrix shows that the historical strategic positioning (providing work and specialisation in industrial subcontracting) is no longer tenable. Most of the centres in our sample developed new orientations leading to differentiation and diversification alternatives. The financial surpluses generated by the service activities are used to fund vocational training for users or to recruit an integration supervisor who canvasses companies in the ordinary environment for in-company placements, secondments and jobs. This matrix brings out the economic strategies which permit the reinforcement of medical and social-service activities and we therefore maintain that it could be used as a decision-making tool by the heads of such organisations.

The French nonprofit sector could be a field of application for social entrepreneurship principles, yet French experts and researchers have expressed some reservations about what they perceive as a concept rooted in the US context. On the other hand, little has been reported about the views of leaders of nonprofit organizations. To what extent are their attitudes, but also their practices, compatible with the principles of social entrepreneurship? Social entrepreneurship (SE) is both a theory and a practice born in the USA at the end of the 90s and imported to France during the following decade. We first examine some of its founding texts and summarize its principles as follows: 1) Hybrid management. SE consists in using tools from the business sector in order to produce goods and services more efficiently contributing to social goals; 2) Hybrid finances. SE avoids depending on public subsidies as far as possible; 3) Hybrid status. SE is not limited to the nonprofit sector. It can take and combine any kind of structure whatever its status. The purpose of this paper is to study the attitudes and practices of the leaders of NPOs i.e. members of the board and managers, in relation to SE principles, following a scientific approach. We are not concerned with whether or not they have appropriated the term ‘social entrepreneurship', but rather whether they apply its principles. Our research questions concern the entrepreneurial and management pathways in which these leaders are engaged and to what extent the recommendations of the SE literature are compatible with their representations and practices? Thus, this paper studies the frames of references (Watzlawick et al, 1975) and the rationalities (Simon, 1947; Weber, 1921) of these actors. Based on 35 semi-directive interviews, our results show that, beyond ideological barriers, nonprofit managers are already dealing with these three issues, trying to find a sustainable management pathway between pragmatism and the respect of their core values. Based on their sociopolitical activist principles, they may have strong negative opinions about a SE approach often perceived as a for-profit concept. On the other hand, they need to adopt more moderated attitudes toward issues such as efficiency, diversity of resources and competition in order to work out the management problems they experience in the field. However, we also suggest that the culture of French NPOs introduces an ethical bottom line beyond which they will not go. Thus, this paper explores a version of social entrepreneurship more adapted to the French nonprofit culture. One of the main innovations of the nonprofit sector consists in “killing several birds with one stone”, by producing new services and at the same time creating a social network of stakeholders. The framework of references and processes of thought (Piaget, 1971) underlying SE principles do not allow people to perceive and value these kinds of performances. SE principles, as introduced in the French context, often refer to social utility, yet does the efficient achievement of social goals justify all technical and economic means? We call for adaptations integrating ‘valuebased rationality'.The case presented at the end of the text illustrates a possible pathway from SE to an activism conforming to the values of the French nonprofit sector. This young graduate at first saw his NPO as a badly managed service (step 1). He was confused about the logic of action of the people around him (step 2). He then progressively began to understand and to subscribe to their value system, becoming, in turn, an efficient activist (step 3).